Wild One
by Nyctanthous
Summary: A one-shot I wrote for my 750 project. Reno's chopper goes down and he's badly hurt. Some swearing and blood.


Sadly, this is just another quick little one-shot. I wrote this for my 750 project, and felt like posting it. This is not a song fic, or at least, I didn't mean it to be. I heard the song on the radio today, and thought it seemed like a pretty good song for Reno.

Enjoy!

Wild One

He was going to die here.

Reno stared blearily up at the sky, his back against a tree. Yes, he was going to die here, but he wasn't going to worry about it. It was inevitable, so what was the point? He'd much rather stare at the sky, which was a beautiful grey.

Rain was beginning to drizzle down, pattering gentle onto the thick roof of leaves, washing away the acrid smell of smoke. Reno weakly turned his head and looked across the field at the remains of his chopper. It was too far to see, but he knew it was still on fire.

"Sorry, baby," Reno murmured. He felt bad, even though he knew that he couldn't have anticipated the spray of gunfire that would destroy the rotors. After that, Reno had had no choice but to jump. Without a chute.

And unfortunately, he had still been very high in the air.

Reno remembered how the impact has made him black out, and how he had woken up and dragged himself to where he was now.

Where was he again?

The rain was coming down harder. Reno started to hum to himself, then to sing. A song that had been playing in the bar last night was in his head. He was surprised he could remember anything from last night, considering how much he'd had to drink.

"Mm...wild one, won't you please come home? You've been away too long...will ya?" he crooned weakly. "We need ya home, we need ya near...come back wild one...would ya?"

Reno kept on singing and humming, heedless of the drop of blood that dribbled from the corner of his mouth. Eventually, he heard a sound, a beeping, in his ear. Reno stopped singing and reached up shakily to tap the communicator. Instantly, the voices of Tseng, Rude, and Elena were there, as though there were standing right beside him.

"Tseng, get the left flank," Elena said. "Rude and I cleared the right."

"Good work, Elena. Rude," Tseng replied. Then, a moment later, "Left flank cleared."

Reno felt his world tilting, and he collapsed on his side and curled into a ball, cupping his hands around the communicator. It was harder to breathe this way, but that distracted him from the cold in his toes and fingers that was spreading through his body

Suddenly, he heard his name.

"Where's Reno?"

That was Rude's voice. Reno could picture Elena and Tseng looking up, realizing his chopper wasn't there.

"Reno?" Tseng said into the communicator. "Reno, report."

Not a chance, boss-man, Reno thought. He couldn't bear to be so pathetic as to choke and stammer through a lackluster goodbye. No, he'd much rather just stay here and fade quietly.

"Reno, say something!" Elena sounded frantic. "Come on, Reno, answer us!"

"Calm down, Elena," Tseng said. "He probably just turned off his communicator."

"Y-yeah," she replied. "You're probably right."

Rude was quiet for a moment. "I can't track Reno's helicopter."

Now it was Tseng's turn to sound frantic, though he hid it much better than Elena. "Try tracking his PHS."

Reno had forgotten about that. He didn't have the strength to check, and he could only hope his PHS had been broken in the fall

"Got it," Rude said. "Tracking now."

Fuck. Reno desperately tried to get his PHS, but he couldn't even move a finger, let alone his entire arm.

He didn't want the other Turks to see him like this. All broken and defeated, like some kind of stupid rookie. He didn't want to see the disappointment in their eyes when they found that he hadn't even tried to call for help. He couldn't deal with them knowing he was a failure.

Reno closed his eyes and let a tear fall. A crash of thunder split the air, followed by a blinding flicker of lightning. He was almost completely numb by now, but his heart burned with despair. Reno sniffled and turned his head, pressing the communicator even more tightly to his ear.

He didn't know how long he lay there, listening to the voices of the other Turks, but then he heard his name again.

"Reno!"

That was strange, Reno thought. Elena's voice didn't sound like it had come from the communicator.

"Reno."

That had to be Tseng, but it was hard to tell. Reno had never heard him speak so gently before.

"Reno..."

Rude's voice was heartbreakingly sad.

Through the darkness, Reno felt someone touch his face, brushing his hair away from his closed eyes. The song came back into his head.

_Wild one, won't you please come home?_

The sound of the rain was fading away.

_Won't you please come home?_

Reno couldn't breathe.

_Wild one..._

"Cure."

The End


End file.
